Connected or cutoff? A 4-Year longitudinal study of the links between adolescents’ compulsive internet use and social support

As the online world plays an increasing role in young peoples’ lives, research on compulsive internet use (CIU) is receiving growing attention. Given the social richness of the online world, there is a need to better understand how CIU influences adolescents’ social support and vice versa. Drawing on ecological systems theory, we examined the longitudinal links between adolescents’ CIU and perceived social support from three sources (parents, teachers, and friends) across 4 critical years of adolescence (Grades 8–11). Using random intercept cross-lagged modeling, we found that CIU consistently preceded reduced social support from teachers, whereas social support from parents preceded increases in CIU over time. We discuss the implications of our findings for parents and schools seeking to support young people experiencing CIU.